French fries, onion rings, popcorn shrimp, and other finger-foods are often served from small paperboard containers. These containers may be pouch-shaped, like those used for french fries in many fast-food establishments, or shaped like a cup. Because such containers are often used to scoop individual servings from a product batch, they are sometimes referred to as "food scoops."
The food products described above are often dipped into sauces or condiments, such as ketchup, mustard, or vinegar before they are eaten. Many food service establishments provide bulk containers of these condiments and small paper or plastic cups into which they can be dispensed. Alternately, the condiments may come prepackaged in a sealed container.
If the food product is consumed by a person while seated at a table, the condiment containers can be placed on the table. If a person wishes to walk with the container, on a boardwalk or at an amusement park, for example, or to eat the food product while driving a vehicle, the use of a condiment becomes more difficult. Both the condiment cup and food scoop must be held in one hand while the other hand grasps an item of food and dips it in the condiment. This method makes activities such as driving very difficult and possibly dangerous. It is also possible to dispense a condiment directly onto the food products in the food scoop, but this can be messy and often results in an uneven distribution of condiment. When walking or driving, therefore, persons sometimes forego the use of sauces or condiments altogether, or have to endure the inconvenience of eating sticky, condiment-covered food products with their fingers.
Various attempts have been made to address this problem by providing food containers with compartments for holding a condiment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,957 to Yocum, owned by the assignee of the present invention, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,429 to Cordle show food scoops having interior pockets that can be filled with condiments. However, pockets such as these can be inadvertently squeezed, leading to condiment spills either into the food scoop or onto the user. These pockets also make containers more difficult to assemble and more costly to produce. U.S. Pat. No. 5,417,364 to Shaw and U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,631 to Berger show complex folding shelves formed separately from a food scoop and glued or otherwise attached to the food scoops for supporting a condiment receptacle. Such attachments also add to the cost of food scoops and make them more difficult to assemble. In addition, they do not securely retain a condiment receptacle when the food scoop is carried by a user or balanced in a moving vehicle.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a condiment holder that is integrally formed with a food scoop, that is capable of securely retaining a condiment receptacle even when the food scoop is carried or jarred, and that can be produced at substantially the same cost as existing food scoops that lack this inventive feature.